VALKYRIE
LOA 80ft - LOD 60ft – LOW est. 46ft – DRAFT 8ft - KEEL 38ft
Tonnage: 44.4 tons
Chas. Bailey 1928 Quadruple planked Kauri Gaff-rigged schooner
Built for Captain Ernest Gilling to cruise the South Seas dit.
The graceful, historic racing yachts designed by the Logan and Bailey families in New Zealand are now amongst the finest examples of early New Zealand boat building. The kauri used in their construction is regarded as the finest boat building timber in the world for its beauty, ease of handling and its ability to last in water.
The yachts are highly prized and sought by collectors. They are legally protected in New Zealand and a prohibited export without Government authorization. And so is the Kauri wood that was used in their construction. They have been featured in Wooden Boat Magazine, which featured the boats and wood in a cover article, The Kauri Legacy.
Two Charitable Trusts in New Zealand - the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust of Auckland and the Wellington Classic Yacht Trust - have been formed to locate these boats, buy them and return them to New Zealand for restoration, where they are held by either proud owners, the Trusts or local Maritime Museums. There is also a Classic Yacht Association of New Zealand which promotes the ownership, preservation and restoration of Classic Yachts and Launches, and seeks to record the significant role that harbor and coastal sea craft have played in the development of New Zealand communities. It maintains a register of classic yachts and launches.
These early New Zealand vessels are prohibited exports under the New Zealand Protected Objects Act 1975. This prohibits the export of any antiquity - including vessels - more than 50 years old without special authorization.
Permission can be given if the Government authority administering the Act is satisfied that there are sufficient examples of that category in public ownership in New Zealand.
The export prohibition extends, as well, to the kauri wood. Felling kauri is prohibited, all the remaining forests are protected and now, mainly swamp wood is available. Any existing wood can only be exported for special approved projects - such as the restoration of Robert Erskine Childers’s 51’ Colin Archer designed ketch ASGARD nearing completion at the Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
VALKYRIE – now known as Valkyrien - is one of these treasured vessels, and, is among the largest examples of these special yachts.
Valkyrie at LOA 80ft and 60ft on deck is one of the few larger yachts from this period. Unlike many of the New Zealand classic yachts, which were built as coastal, river or harbor boats, or, to race - VALKYRIE was built to cruise the South Seas. Were Valkyrie in New Zealand, export permission would be unlikely. There are not many of these classic yachts as large and solid as Valkyrie.
Most of those being restored and featured are in a range up to 40 ft. The oldest classic yacht in New Zealand is the beloved JESSIE LOGAN – a 130 year-old gaff cutter that features a centerboard. She is just 28’ 6”
Possibly because Valkyrie was to tackle the Pacific Ocean, she was given an extra skin - quadruple kauri planking. This has given her a sturdy hull that has allowed her to withstand 84 years on the Pacific Ocean, including time as a seconded vessel used by the US Navy as a barge in the Second World War; a reconnaissance trip to Pitcairn with the CIA to observe the tests on the Mururoa Atoll; time dredging coral in Hawaii and, later, racing in San Francisco, before embarking on an epic sea journey from San Francisco to Panama – heading for the Panama Canal and Washington DC.
The hull even survived a month on a surf beach in the Bay of Panama, after being moored inshore on a high spring tide. Her hull - despite 84 years of hard labour - has kept its shape and line and merely needs a few planks, fresh caulking and paint for her to be as sound as she ever was. It is not hogged.
Her size and her planking make her a unique example of this era.
The yachts are highly prized and sought by collectors. They are legally protected in New Zealand and a prohibited export without Government authorization. And so is the Kauri wood that was used in their construction. They have been featured in Wooden Boat Magazine, which featured the boats and wood in a cover article, The Kauri Legacy.
Two Charitable Trusts in New Zealand - the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust of Auckland and the Wellington Classic Yacht Trust - have been formed to locate these boats, buy them and return them to New Zealand for restoration, where they are held by either proud owners, the Trusts or local Maritime Museums. There is also a Classic Yacht Association of New Zealand which promotes the ownership, preservation and restoration of Classic Yachts and Launches, and seeks to record the significant role that harbor and coastal sea craft have played in the development of New Zealand communities. It maintains a register of classic yachts and launches.
These early New Zealand vessels are prohibited exports under the New Zealand Protected Objects Act 1975. This prohibits the export of any antiquity - including vessels - more than 50 years old without special authorization.
Permission can be given if the Government authority administering the Act is satisfied that there are sufficient examples of that category in public ownership in New Zealand.
The export prohibition extends, as well, to the kauri wood. Felling kauri is prohibited, all the remaining forests are protected and now, mainly swamp wood is available. Any existing wood can only be exported for special approved projects - such as the restoration of Robert Erskine Childers’s 51’ Colin Archer designed ketch ASGARD nearing completion at the Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
VALKYRIE – now known as Valkyrien - is one of these treasured vessels, and, is among the largest examples of these special yachts.
Valkyrie at LOA 80ft and 60ft on deck is one of the few larger yachts from this period. Unlike many of the New Zealand classic yachts, which were built as coastal, river or harbor boats, or, to race - VALKYRIE was built to cruise the South Seas. Were Valkyrie in New Zealand, export permission would be unlikely. There are not many of these classic yachts as large and solid as Valkyrie.
Most of those being restored and featured are in a range up to 40 ft. The oldest classic yacht in New Zealand is the beloved JESSIE LOGAN – a 130 year-old gaff cutter that features a centerboard. She is just 28’ 6”
Possibly because Valkyrie was to tackle the Pacific Ocean, she was given an extra skin - quadruple kauri planking. This has given her a sturdy hull that has allowed her to withstand 84 years on the Pacific Ocean, including time as a seconded vessel used by the US Navy as a barge in the Second World War; a reconnaissance trip to Pitcairn with the CIA to observe the tests on the Mururoa Atoll; time dredging coral in Hawaii and, later, racing in San Francisco, before embarking on an epic sea journey from San Francisco to Panama – heading for the Panama Canal and Washington DC.
The hull even survived a month on a surf beach in the Bay of Panama, after being moored inshore on a high spring tide. Her hull - despite 84 years of hard labour - has kept its shape and line and merely needs a few planks, fresh caulking and paint for her to be as sound as she ever was. It is not hogged.
Her size and her planking make her a unique example of this era.